'I Can't Get Into the Halloween Spirit'

My two sons are obsessed with Halloween. They wanted
to start preparing as soon as they went back to school. By the time October
rolled around, I couldn’t stave them off any more, and we went for it. We have
already decorated the house and even carved pumpkins. I’m afraid they’ll rot
before Halloween. Anyway, I was wondering if the French deal with this at
Halloween?

I’m not sure if this will be
of any comfort, but I’m right there with you. “Skelly,” our plastic skeleton the size of an
average 10-year-old, was liberated from the closet a week ago. I’ve managed to
put off any carving, but I won’t pretend we’ll make it through the week without
hitting a pumpkin patch.

This is all very unFrench for
two reasons. The first, most irritating,
one is that they are better at containing their holidays over there. Whereas
it’s still fall in France, stores here are already putting out their Christmas
stuff. Our kids really don’t have a
chance of resisting premature holiday mania.

However, Halloween is a
completely different animal in France. Less then 20 years ago, it was
essentially unheard of. Even now, it’s
mostly thought of as an American holiday and not universally embraced. It is
catching on—but to compare cultural approaches for any tips would be
fruitless. Anyway, we live here.

It’s strange, wonderful and very American.

I’m not a huge proponent of commercializing everything, but when it comes to Halloween I can’t help myself—I adore it. Maybe that explains why, 20 years after my Goth phase ended, I still wear creepers. My 7-year-old is planning to dress up as David Bowie. That alone makes me giddy. I love roaming the streets with my kids and bumping into neighbors showing their stripes. I love mini Almond Joys. I love Halloween.

In France, even
trick-or-treating is complicated because of the way so many homes are
constructed, with high walls facing the street and access codes for entry. When
French kids trick-or-treat, it’s usually only at stores.

One of my favorite descriptions of Halloween in France comes from the
book Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be
Wrong by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie
Barlow. The authors claim that Halloween in Honfleur, Normandy “looked
and sounded more like a labor strike than the traditional children’s ritual we
were accustomed to. The Honfleur children marched in a crowd between police
cruisers, their little fists raised, chanting, ‘We want candies! We want candies!’"

Granted, their experience is many years old now, but it still helps to
explain how something like Halloween as we know it cannot be easily exported.
It’s strange, wonderful and very American.

You can take a page out of France’s book if you want to keep Halloween at
bay until mid-October by asserting your Chiefdom and simply not letting it in
the house. Personally, I’m going to save that resolve for the Christmas
onslaught (and try to hold out until, at least, December 1).